Deconstructing Bridges

Chapter Eight

"You're off the case, Bridges."

Parker's voice was brusque, inviting no arguments, and he stood stiff and straight, his arms folded in front of him. Matthew's fist tightened further, if it was indeed possible, as he attempted to curb the rage unfurling inside him.

"You can't pin this on me. We didn't kill Lindfield. She did. And now we have her in custody."

The captain shook his head in disbelief, looking up at the ceiling as if praying for assistance before continuing.

"I don't care if you did everything by the book. Perhaps even I would have made the same choices if I had stumbled across that scene. But there is unmistakable bias, Matt. Any decision you made is always going to have that taint over it. No one will take this investigation seriously unless you're off it. We'll keep you informed every step of the way. You can still help out, alright? But for now, you're out of the field. You do not run briefings. You do not run interrogations. You do not run down leads. You are in the background. And if you think of arguing, then you are automatically suspended. You got it?"

He shook his head, still unable to comprehend what he was hearing. A buzzing had sounded in his head since the moment they had left the park, and it almost seemed as though if he could only free himself for that, perhaps he would find himself in a different situation. An alternate universe where things hadn't gone so horribly wrong in a matter of minutes.

Rose had not spoken a word since being pushed into the backseat of the car, and Eddie had thrown several warning glares over at Matthew from the drivers seat to ensure he did not initiate any form of dialogue. This had been a mess, and they both knew they would be questioned mercilessly over the happenings of the day. Eddie had initially explained that the back-up unit had arrived at the house as Eddie was running down to the car, and he'd screamed for them to also call the crime scene unit. Wallace was dead, Eddie had confirmed it, and arrangements had to be made.

For the rest of the drive, which was spent in tense silence, Matthew had known that a conversation about his part in the entire confrontation would be called into question. He knew, after wrestling with the truth behind his desire to remain on the Bridges case, that it had not been wise to remain with the team.

That did not mean he wished to be kicked off.

"So I can't run down leads anymore. Perhaps I can't go after Freddie myself. But we have Rose now. I can be of assistance in that. We can finally get our answers, Captain. Don't you-?"

"You can't be a part of the questioning, Matt. In any way."

Parker's eyes were unflinching, his tone uncompromising as he looked at the man who was not at all happy with what he had just heard.

"You can't pull me off now," he expelled through gritted teeth.

"Bridges..."

"I have not taken a wrong step, have I? No one will fight harder than me to bring this case down. You can't fucking do this to me now, Cap. You can't take me off."

"You think this case is important to you? Well, it goes double for me."

Parker rose from his chair then, squaring his shoulders. He was one hundred percent serious.

"You are not going to fuck this up. And every day I allow you to remain working this case, every time I let you share anything we get on your wife, I am jeopardising the entire team. You are my best man. I'm well aware of that. I will keep you appraised of everything, I promise. But I will not risk anything going awry. I will not risk giving anyone a reason to question our professionalism or the legitimacy of our arrests. It would be easy for Mrs Bridges to turn around and accuse you of an unjustified level of force, simply because you had a personal reason to leave those marks on her. And then she could walk. She could fucking walk, Matt. Is that what you want?"